Hydrochemical Dynamics of River Flow in a Mountain River (Katun River as an Example)

Abstract

It is noted that the efficiency of protection and rational use of water resources decreases due to uncertainty of information about spontaneously changing indicators of their quality, uniqueness of such variability and, consequently, due to impossibility to develop uniform rules of economic use of water bodies and watercourses. It is shown that these problems arise not only in water bodies subjected to intensive anthropogenic impact, but also in those remaining in practically natural conditions. The results of the authors' studies of the rivers of the Altai Mountains are presented, where such features of melt (freshly formed) water as structural shifts in time series of its quality indicators, clustering of volatility, non-seasonal cyclicity and long memory of time series were discovered. It was concluded that it is necessary to take into account not only external conditions but also intrinsic dynamic characteristics of water flow to assess water composition and properties in order to reliably predict its quality and ensure efficient water use.